Jinni of the Lamp
The Jinni of the Lamp is an incredibly powerful Jinni associated with a particular oil lamp which came in the possession of a young Chinese man named Aladdin. Bound to do the bidding of whoever the lamp's current owner is, this dutiful magical being is automatically summoned to offer his services whenever his master rubs the lamp to call for him. Physically, the Jinni of the Lamp is described as larger and more imposing than the Jinni of the Ring (who also serves Aladdin), thus matching the fact that he's also far more powerful. Nowadays, along with Aladdin himself, the Jinni of the Lamp is easily the most recognized figure in the tale and has notably inspired such different characters as Babs from the 1945 comedy A Thousand and One Nights, Genie from Disney's animated Aladdin series, and the Erazor Djinn from Sonic and the Secret Rings. Additionally, the notion of Jinn being bound to lamps specifically has become extremely prevalent in popular culture, even though in the original stories that make up the book of One Thousand and One Nights, the Jinn, if bound to an object at all, are usually bound to a ring. The popular idea that the Jinni is not only magically bound to, but also physically trapped within the object until being set free is also not present in the original - where rubbing the lamp or the ring simply served to summon the Jinni associated with these objects - and may have originated from another tale in the collection, "The Fisherman and the Jinni", featuring an evil Jinni that has been trapped into a bottle and is accidentally released by the fisherman. Biography The Jinni's lamp was originally placed deep within a subterranean complex filled with precious gems and other treasures, located far from the outskirts of Aladdin's hometown in China. At some point, an evil Moroccan sorcerer heard about this object, and desired to become the master of its Jinni, although he was already in possession of a magic ring, and was therefore master of a far less powerful one. Since the chamber's entrance was built in such way that a man could easily get in by himself, but not get out without assistance, the sorcerer sought help from a young man named Aladdin. He told the lad to enter the chamber, fetch the lamp and give it to him. He also gave Aladdin the magic ring, in case he came into trouble while trying to get to the lamp. While Aladdin did retrieve the lamp easily, he also filled his pockets with several gems and refused to handle anything to the sorcerer before the latter helped him get out. After much insistence, the enraged sorcerer lost his patience and furiously locked Aladdin inside the chamber, along with the lamp, the ring and everything else of value, and abandoned him to die there. After summoning the Jinni of the Ring by accident, Aladdin managed to escape, and brought the magic lamp to his mother, who also accidentally summoned the lamp's Jinni while cleaning it. The Jinni promptly offered his services to his new masters, so Aladdin asked for food. The Jinni disappeared and returned in an instant, with a formidable banquet, served in trays made of silver. For the following days, Aladdin and his mother routinely asked the Jinni for food and, after each meal, sold the silver trays to local merchants, thus acquiring considerable wealth. After falling in love with the Princess Badr al-Budur, daughter of the local Sultan; Aladdin offered the gems he had taken from the treasure chamber to prove his status as a rich man, and was promised the hand of the princess in marriage. However, the Sultan broke his promise and married his daughter to the son of his Vizier instead. Upon hearing this, Aladdin asked the Jinni to abduct the couple and keep the Vizier's son locked away while Aladdin himself kept company to the Princess. Thanks to the Jinni's abilities, this same scheme was repeated every night, despite the Sultan's efforts to guard the palace, until the Vizier's son himself became convinced that the marriage was cursed and asked the Sultan to nullify it. Still not wanting his daughter to marry Aladdin (in spite of having promised her to him), the Sultan demanded that Aladdin bring him forty golden platters filled with precious gems, each carried by a handmaid escorted by an eunuch slave. Once again, Aladdin rubbed the lamp and simply asked the Jinni, who effortlessly conjured all of this. Seeing such impressive display of wealth, the Sultan finally agreed to the marriage. With the assistance of the Jinni, Aladdin created an entire royal pavillon in a single night to be annexed to the Sultan's palace. As a Prince, he quickly became popular among his people and was revered for his generosity and his victorious campaigns against warlike invaders from other kingdoms. When the Moroccan sorcerer became aware of Aladdin's fate, he traveled back to China to try to reclaim the lamp. Posing as a merchant who offered to trade "old lamps for new lamps", he approached the Princess and her handmaidens, and they eagerly handled him Aladdin's old oil lamp; unaware that they were giving away the very source of their good fortunes in exchange for a common lamp. As soon as the sorcerer put his hands on the lamp, he ordered the Jinni to transfer Aladdin's entire pavillon, along with everything and everyone in it, to the sorcerer's own homeland in Africa. When Aladdin returned home from a hunting trip, he was immensely distressed at seeing that his wife, his fortune and his lamp were all gone. But as he was about to commit suicide, he prayed again and rubbed his hands, accidentally summoning the Jinni of the Ring once more. Although the ring's Jinni couldn't undo anything done by the more powerful lamp Jinni; he did transport Aladdin to Africa and allowed him to infiltrate the pavillon, assisted by the Princess and the servants. Together, they managed to slay the evil sorcerer and the lamp was retrieved, along with Aladdin's mastery of the lamp's Jinni. Back on his homeland in China, Aladdin still had to deal with a new threat in the form of the sorcerer's brother, who disguised himself as a fortune teller to enter the pavillon and attempted to avenge his brother's death. Thankfully, the Jinni warned Aladdin about this visitor's real nature and enabled Aladdin to defeat and kill the sorcerer's brother as well. Appearances *''One Thousand and One Nights'' (first appeared in Antoine Galland's 18th century translation, although Galland claims that he heard the story from a man named Youhenna Diab) Notes *In the 2000 TV miniseries Arabian Nights, the Jinni of the Lamp and the Ring are both portrayed by John Leguizamo. Similarly, James Earl Jones portrays both of them in Faerie Tale Theater. Category:Fictional Creatures Category:Genies Category:Sentient Beings Category:Sapient Beings Category:Magical Creatures Category:Characters with teleportation Category:Humanoids Category:Slaves Category:Living Characters Category:Males Category:Literary Creatures Category:Characters Debuting in 1712 Category:Animated Creatures Category:Live Action Creatures Category:Faerie Tale Theater Universe Category:Characters Portrayed by James Earl Jones Category:Characters Portrayed by Jeff Bennett Category:Characters Portrayed by John Leguizamo Category:Aladdin Universe